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nnylelocin's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Gore, Death of parent, Genocide, Blood, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Death, Slavery, and Drug use
liesthemoontells's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Does a great job of introducing its characters and setting the scene for the saga ahead.
Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Murder, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Grief, Suicide, Torture, Drug use, Genocide, Physical abuse, Gore, and Violence
Moderate: War and Slavery
Minor: Animal death
ladypalutena's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Is this book ground-breaking? No. A teen who, by all rights, should never have gotten to where they are in life is the "chosen one" picked up by a plucky crown prince and made to fight a ton of grown men to win the right to become an official assassin.
To which I say,
The biggest issue I found is that I never felt afraid for Celaena at any point. She is proven over and over again, in every situation, that she is better than everyone else. She's not only beautiful, but she's deadlier than everyone, and oh by the way, did you know she's only 18?
It is also so painfully obvious where this book is going to go. There's a weak attempt at misdirection with Celaena believing that one specific person is the champion-murderer, which made me roll my eyes. Maas all but crams it down your throat early on, and then dances around the lumpy blanket on the ground just to whip off the cover late in the book and go "Surprise!" But by then, it's not a surprise and the real villain has been super obvious for way too long.
The world is interesting, and while our MC Celaena can be thorny at times, she's an assassin and this is the only way she knows she can't be hurt.
So far, so good. I'm interested in where this is going to lead, and even more interested in how I'm going to juggle my Libby holds for this series when every one of them has a vastly different wait time.
Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, and Murder
Moderate: War, Violence, and Slavery
Minor: Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Drug use, and Drug abuse
merrow's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Death, Violence, Vomit, War, Blood, Gore, Murder, Body horror, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, Drug use, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Death of parent, and Genocide
autumnalcreature's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Drug use, Gore, Murder, Violence, Genocide, Kidnapping, Misogyny, and Grief
Minor: Colonisation and Classism
emilywemily6's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Bullying, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Classism, Murder, Death, and Drug use
Moderate: Cursing
jelkebooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
REREAD 2024
I really just did not like this book. It's extremely generic YA fantasy, which I can have fun with from time to time, but this just had an extremely boring plot. I've found my problem with it this reread of it. Our main character does absolutely NOTHING in this book. Every plot progression is done by happenstance or by other characters. Celaena herself does NOT play an active part in this story. That was such a quick way for me to lose complete interest in the narrative. Truly, how am I supposed to care about all of these things happening if our main character is just an unlucky bystander in it all? I as a reader do more to progress the plot than Celaena does, as I still have to actively turn the page if I want to plot to move forward. It just made for an extremely dull read.
That being said I also just don't like Celaena. She's absolutely stupid, and nothing in this book actually convinced me off the fact that she's supposed to be this world's most feared assassin. It's honestly a miracle she ended up surviving this book considering she's in a castle full of assassin, with a murderous monster, and just completely oblivious to anything going on around her. Several characters manage to sneak up on her without even attempting to, she falls asleep literally everywhere without an issue, and she just eats food out of a mystery package, not knowing who send it or what happened to it. Honestly, like I said a complete miracle that she survived. She also isn't very clevver and seems to just be against what other character's want her to do just for the sake of it, rather than actually thinking she's in the right and they are not. It was so incredibly annoying.
That being said I did like some of the side characters. They are bit one dimensional because most of the focus is on Celaena but they are still much more likeable, and I'm really hoping to see more from them in the rest of the series. The romances weren't terrible but incredibly poorly developed, so I hope that will also get better in future installements, because yes I am still continuing on with this series.
Graphic: Slavery and Misogyny
Moderate: Drug use, Grief, and Physical abuse
Minor: Rape and Suicide
longlostlillian's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Violence, Vomit, and Blood
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Addiction, War, Slavery, Sexual content, Suicide, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Panic attacks/disorders
notamouse's review against another edition
2.5
Graphic: Drug use, Murder, Sexism, Gore, Grief, Torture, Blood, Death, Slavery, and Violence
Minor: Vomit
slahlum's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Moderate: Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Slavery, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Vomit, and War